Come build community, explore your passions and do your best work at Microsoft with thousands of university interns from every corner of the world. This opportunity will allow you to bring your aspirations, talent, potential – and excitement for the journey ahead.
As an Applied Science PhD Intern at Microsoft, you will be at the forefront of technological innovation, working collaboratively to bring research to life in our products and services. You'll gain expertise in cutting-edge research areas, apply advanced concepts to real-world needs, and use state-of-the-art tools to make a tangible impact on product quality and business outcomes. You'll contribute to the creation of intelligent solutions through data analysis, modeling, machine learning, and/or AI, LLM, SLM and agent, ensuring our products remain at the leading edge of innovation.
As an intern at Microsoft, you’re stepping into a world of real impact from day one. You’ll collaborate with global teams on meaningful projects, explore cutting-edge technologies like AI, and kick start your career while doing it. With a strong focus on learning and development, this is your opportunity to grow your skills, build community, and shape your future—all while being supported every step of the way.
Microsoft’s mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. As employees we come together with a growth mindset, innovate and empower others, and collaborate to realize our shared goals. Each day we build on our values of respect, integrity, and accountability to create a culture of inclusion where everyone can thrive at work and beyond.
Responsibilities
Analyze and improve performance of advanced algorithms on large-scale datasets and cutting-edge research in machine intelligence and machine learning applications.
Think through the product scenarios and goals, identify key challenges, then fit the scenario asks into Machine Learning (ML) tasks, design experimental process for iteration and optimization.
Implement prototypes of scalable systems in AI applications.
Gain an understanding of a broad area of research and applicable research techniques, as well as a basic knowledge of industry trends and share your knowledge with immediate team members.
Prepare data to be used for analysis by reviewing criteria that reflect quality and technical constraints. Reviews data and suggests data to be included and excluded and be able to describe actions taken to address data quality problems.
Assist with the development of usable datasets for modeling purposes and support the scaling of feature ideation and data preparation.
Help take cleaned data and adapt for machine learning purposes, under the direction of a senior team member
Qualifications
Required Qualifications:
Currently pursuing a Doctorate Degree in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or related field.
Must have at least one additional quarter/semester of school remaining following the completion of the internship.
Candidate must be enrolled in a full time bachelor's, masters, MBA, or PhD program in area relevant for the role during the academic term immediately before their internship.
Preferred Qualifications:
Explore product challenges using state of the art solutions.
Research publications, coursework, or project experience relevant to search, language models, recommender systems, geospatial or location intelligence, or content and commerce systems.
Experience running controlled experiments and interpreting offline and online evaluation metrics.
Familiarity with large-scale distributed systems or productionizing applied science solutions.
Passion for building AI experiences and an understanding of how AI tools and technologies can be applied to improve relevance, discovery, personalization, and end-user satisfaction.
The base pay range for this internship is USD $6,810.00 - $13,480.00 per month. There is a different range applicable to specific work locations, within the San Francisco Bay area and New York City metropolitan area, and the base pay range for this role in those locations is USD $8,920.00 - $14,610.00 per month.
Certain roles may be eligible for benefits and other compensation. Find additional benefits and pay information here:
https://careers.microsoft.com/us/en/us-intern-pay
Microsoft accepts applications and processes offers for these roles on an ongoing basis throughout the academic calendar
(September - April)
This position will be open for a minimum of 5 days, with applications accepted on an ongoing basis until the position is filled.
Microsoft is an equal opportunity employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to age, ancestry, citizenship, color, family or medical care leave, gender identity or expression, genetic information, immigration status, marital status, medical condition, national origin, physical or mental disability, political affiliation, protected veteran or military status, race, ethnicity, religion, sex (including pregnancy), sexual orientation, or any other characteristic protected by applicable local laws, regulations and ordinances. If you need assistance with religious accommodations and/or a reasonable accommodation due to a disability during the application process, read more about requesting accommodations.
Skills Required
- Currently pursuing a Doctorate Degree in Statistics, Econometrics, Computer Science, Electrical or Computer Engineering, or a related field.
- At least one additional quarter or semester of school remaining after completing the internship.
- Enrollment in a full-time bachelor's, master's, MBA, or PhD program relevant to the role during the academic term immediately before the internship.
- Research publications, coursework, or project experience relevant to search, language models, recommender systems, geospatial or location intelligence, or content and commerce systems.
- Experience running controlled experiments and interpreting offline and online evaluation metrics.
- Familiarity with large-scale distributed systems or productionizing applied science solutions.
- Passion for building AI experiences and understanding how AI tools and technologies improve relevance, discovery, personalization, and end-user satisfaction.
Microsoft Compensation & Benefits Highlights
The following summarizes recurring compensation and benefits themes identified from responses generated by popular LLMs to common candidate questions about Microsoft and has not been reviewed or approved by Microsoft.
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Fair & Transparent Compensation — Pay is presented as broadly competitive overall, with clear role/level/location variation and an emphasis on using posted ranges and band information for apples-to-apples comparisons.
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Retirement Support — Retirement benefits are described as a standout, highlighted by a strong 401(k) match structure and immediate vesting, plus additional plan features for tax-advantaged saving.
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Parental & Family Support — Family-oriented benefits are portrayed as a meaningful strength, with substantial paid parental leave and added supports like back-up care and adoption/surrogacy assistance.
Microsoft Insights
What We Do
At Microsoft, our mission is to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more. Our mission is grounded in both the world in which we live and the future we strive to create. Today, we live in a mobile-first, cloud-first world, and the transformation we are driving across our businesses is designed to enable Microsoft and our customers to thrive in this world.
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